Indonesia Detains Suspect Connected to Failed Bomb Plot

Indonesian police have detained a person who may have been connected to a failed plot to bomb Myanmar’s embassy in Jakarta in retaliation for the treatment of Muslims in that country.

The alleged bombing plot earlier this year had spurred concerns that violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar was triggering violence in other countries.

Associated Press

Indonesian police officers outside Myanmar’s embassy in Jakarta.

In May, the police arrested four Islamic men for allegedly planning to attack the Myanmar embassy. The four men have yet to make a public statement on the case and weren’t reachable.

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The government in the Buddhist-majority Myanmar has been struggling to contain sectarian violence that has killed more than 200 people over the past year and driven tens of thousands of people away from their homes. The vast majority of the victims have been Muslims from the ethnic Rohingya minority.

“He is suspected to be among the fundraisers for the group” of one of the four bombing suspects arrested in May, he said.

The police said they have also detained another person who was with Mr. Sabani and are still investigating whether that person might have been involved with the embassy bombing plot.

The identity of the other person couldn’t be learned and Mr. Sabani wasn’t immediately reachable for comment.

Close to 90% of Indonesia’s 240 million people are Muslims, giving it the biggest Muslim population in the world. More than a decade ago the Southeast Asian nation struggled with high-profile bomb attacks by al Qaeda-linked groups. In recent years Indonesia has seen large-scale attacks taper off as the government security forces seem to have succeeded in squashing most of the largest terrorist groups.

Splinter groups now seem to be targeting Buddhists. Early this month, a small bomb exploded at a Buddhist temple in Jakarta while another one was found but failed to detonate. There were no fatalities or serious injuries, however, as the bombs were too small to do much damage, police said.

Still the message of the attempt was clear. Authorities found a note at the targeted temple, reading “This is our response to the screams of the Rohingya.”

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Indonesia Real Time provides analysis and insight into the region, which includes Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei. Contact the editors at SEAsia@wsj.com.

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